Asylum
by Biscuit15
Summary: When David is hospitalised for a suicide attempt, he meets fellow psychiatric patient, Matt, who is convinced that he is "The Doctor". As the two begin falling for each other, David acknowledges it can't just be that simple because the past always has a way of coming back to haunt you. AU.


"Have you two been fighting again…?" Amy Pond's soft hand cupped the bruised cheek of her best friend while her eyes flickered between the two men sitting before her. She frowned deeply as they both darted their eyes away, each staring off the side in silence to avoid the question. She shook her head. "Guys… What were you fighting over _this_ time?"

Green eyes flickered with sudden anger before the youthful, brown-haired male known as Matt pointed an accusing finger at the other male seated at the table beside him. "He keeps telling me that I'm not the Doctor because _he_ is."

The man with cropped, darker hair grimaced before his hands clenched the table edge tightly, and he growled out, "Because I _am_! _I'm_ the Doctor!"

"No, you're not; you're an imposter!"

Amy leant across the table quickly to take both of their hands and soothe them before another fight broke out. Her fiancée, who had recently gone from general nursing to mental health nursing, kept her updated with these two as they spent their days in a psychiatric hospital, and the things Rory relayed to her made her worry even more for Matt than she had back when they had still been caring for him at their home and trying to stop him from getting himself hurt. "Matt, Chris; don't fight, alright? It doesn't matter to me who is what; I still care about you both."

"Nine."

"Eleven."

She sighed, but she still smiled; it was almost endearing how much they insisted on being referred to by their chosen order of 'Doctor'.

She still didn't know Chris – or, as he preferred to be known by, the Ninth Doctor - too well. She'd never met him until they'd had to make the hard choice of hospitalizing Matt (the 'Eleventh', and no matter how hard she racked her brains, she still couldn't work out why they'd gone with this order) but she'd learnt enough about his history to have taken him under her wing, too. She could understand the heartbreak that came with losing everyone around her, and though she and Chris had both lost in _very_ different ways, she still resonated with the anger and sadness deep inside of him.

Nine forced his usual smiling mask back onto his face now; he _did_ like Amy, and he didn't want to hurt her when she'd never done anything to him. Hell, he even hated hurting Eleven, but sometimes his temper exploded and he just couldn't control himself. His voice was strained, but he still forced out, "I didn't mean to upset you, Amy; it won't happen again."

Eleven mumbled something beneath his breath as he looked away again and folded his arms across his chest with a sulky expression crossing his face. Nine gave him a look that Amy couldn't decipher, and though she wanted to question it and _understand,_ she couldn't; her wristwatch beeped with the alarm, and she sighed before she stood up.

"I've got to go; I'm sorry…" She hated leaving. She hated leaving _Matt_. She'd known him for so long, been through so much with him, and every time she said goodbye here, she felt as if she were failing him once again. "Job interview… Sorry…"

Eleven only turned his body to the side as his expression became sulkier, like a kid throwing a tantrum and not wanting to look at their parent. Nine, however, looked interested. "Good luck with it; tell us about it next time you come by, okay?"

Amy smiled at him as she moved around the table to hug Matt tightly. She waited until he'd finally wrapped his arms around her, too, before she let go. She would have given Chris a hug as well, but she knew better than to do so; he was still grieving his losses and didn't want to be reminded of what he would never have again. "I will. Definitely. Gotta run now, though. Bye."

She was gone, leaving Eleven to finally look at Nine with a saddened expression. He couldn't stand it when she left, Ninth knew; like himself, the younger didn't have much left. He reached out to ghost his fingertips along the younger's cheek. "You have _something_ left, at least. You could have lost her, too…"

Eleven didn't respond; he stood up, fidgeting with the bowtie he had fought tooth and nail to bring inside the hospital with him. Nine followed, because even though they had their fights over who the real Doctor was, all they had inside this place was each other – otherwise, the loneliness in both of them would sink its claws deep into their shoulders and pull them down, down, until there was nothing left of them except an emotional mess spanning the size of an ocean.

That was, unfortunately, the life of psychiatric hospital patients.

* * *

There were so many patients housed within these walls, yet it was almost impossible to find one who could hold intelligent conversation, or didn't lash out as soon as they were approached. It was difficult for a social butterfly like Eleven who could talk for hours, but he supposed that was why he had learnt to cling to Nine so much; he'd never felt so lonely until he'd been let loose into a room full of so many people he _wanted_ to talk to but _couldn't_.

That was most likely the reason he was up and on his feet with unbridled eagerness as his nurse and close friend, Rory Williams, approached him with a new patient at his side. He threw his hands out and grabbed the newcomer's hand in an unending handshake that was so vigorous, the new patient looked almost scared as his arm was thrown about all over the place.

"Matt, you should sit back down and I'll introduce you." Rory's hands were on Matt's shoulder, pushing him away gently to put space between the two patients. He was glad to see his friend was looking so happy for once, so he didn't hesitate to gesture towards the patient behind him and say, "This is David. He's our newest patient, and since you're obviously our friendliest, I thought it would be nice if he could stay with you and Chris until he settles in."

Eleventh was back on his feet, his smile so wide, it almost left his face as he went back to shaking the other's hand, this time swinging David's arm up and down like a roller coaster track. "Of _course_ it's fine! Come sit with us and we'll tell you about ourselves!"

Rory was almost knocked from his feet as David was pulled so hard towards the couch Matt and Chris were relaxing on, David tripped and stumbled for the rest of the short journey.

"Oh, right, I forgot!"

David cringed as Matt turned back to him and took him by the shoulders before leaning in close and kissing the air either side of his cheeks, like some sort of Italian greeting he didn't have a proper grasp on. For the first time since he'd been taken into the hospital days ago, he spoke. "What are you doing…?"

"Greeting." Eleven's smile never vanished. "It's what humans do, right?"

"What?" David cocked his eyebrow in disbelief.

"Humans!" The Doctor continued. "I'm a Timelord, you see? I don't know much about the whole human situation; I'm still learning."

David's mouth fell agape, but before he could say anything, Chris called out from the couch behind them. "He really isn't because _I_ am. _I'm_ the Doctor."

Eleven stomped his foot on the ground as he turned around and childishly argued, "No, _I_ am! You're a _human_."

"I'm the _Ninth_ Doctor," the older male argued.

"And I'm the Eleventh, but that doesn't make you a Timelord!"

From where he was watching the argument, David foolishly asked, "So where's the Tenth?"

The two stopped arguing at that. Eleven's mouth formed an o shape while Nine's expression took on one of realization. They looked at each other for several seconds before they turned back to David, and in perfect sync that was almost eerie, they pointed at him and said, " _You_ are."

"Huh…? I'm not a – hey!" He'd tried to protest against the whole thing, but before he could do so, a large hand had tightened around his wrist and he'd been dragged onto the couch with so much force, he fell into Chris' lap. He bit his lip as he tried to gather his wits.

Before he could do so, Matt had latched onto his back and engulfed him into a tight hug. "You're just an ordinary human, but that's okay because we already like you enough to be our missing Tenth!"

David was grateful when Chris pushed him from his lap and onto the couch. He frowned; they both were so strange, but at least _one_ of them seemed completely harmless. He grabbed his wrist and held it as he murmured, "So… Where are the other eight?"

"Oh, they're long gone from here." Eleven waved a dismissive hand. "Still waiting for my turn, for when they let me go back to my TARDIS."

"What's a TARDIS?" David took notice of Chris' eyes fixed on the way he was holding his wrist. He cleared his throat uncomfortably as Matt rambled on about something to do with time and space dimension and pulled his wrist further onto his lap.

Eleven noticed it, too, because he broke away mid-sentence from talking about a police box to suddenly reaching towards the newcomer's wrist and asking, "Did you hurt your wrist? We can fix that for you at the infirmary and –"

Eleven looked up again with confusion on his face as Nine reached out to snatch his hand away from the other's wrist. Nine shook his head. "Don't."

It was such a simple order, but Eleven didn't understand. "Why? If he's hurt his wrist, then he needs medication attention and we –"

He was cut off by David getting to his feet and walking away from them. He called after his new friend, and though he stood up to follow and ask what was wrong, Nine stopped him. "Don't grab his wrists again. Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?" Eleventh's eyes flickered between Nine and the retreating back of David. "I didn't notice anything except him holding it like it was in pain."

"The cuts along his wrist. I saw some when his sleeve rode up. Didn't you see him tugging his sleeves back down quickly? He's probably here for suicide attempts."

"Ohh…" Eleven looked down at his lap. "I didn't… I didn't _know_ …"

Ninth nodded. "Don't bring his wrists up in front of him again."

"Yeah…" The younger wore such a puzzled expression on his face, the Ninth Doctor was sure he'd curl up on the couch and ponder for a few hours – but instead, Eleven had jumped to his feet and gone running through the room, yelling," Oi! Ten! Why are you trying to kill yourself?!"

The Ninth slapped his face in disbelief; the imposter Doctor always meant well, but he was so incredibly socially awkward, sometimes it was best not to tell him anything or things like this happened. He stayed put; he couldn't always be the one to bail the younger out whenever he messed up.

The Doctor caught up to David quickly. He stopped the older male by grabbing the back of his jacket, and though David didn't turn around to face him, he held tight as he murmured, "Why would you want to kill yourself…? You have so much to live for…"

David's hands clenched, but he said nothing. He stayed where he was until Matt had let go, and slowly he turned around to see the younger. He closed his eyes. "You don't need to know my problems; people always leave when they realise how much work I am."

The Doctor shook his head. He smiled and held on to his new friend's sleeve in what he only intended to be a comforting gesture but made David shudder with the proximity. "People leave me, too – that's why you're stuck with me, now. Come on; we can go play Scrabble!"

It was going to be commonplace to be dragged through the hospital by some limb of his body, David was quickly learning. He made a mental note to learn the other's eccentric behavior and the signs so he could act accordingly, but other than the younger being too touchy-feely, David was finding himself enjoying Matt's eccentrics. It had been hard to find someone who reminded him of how he himself had once been, and for reasons he was sure he may never understand, he was comfortable with Matt. Something told him that the other was harmless, and that was what he needed in his life.

* * *

While sleep never had come easily for David, he couldn't say he'd ever been woken from sleep by the feeling of someone watching him. His eyes opened slowly as he tried to gather his senses, but from the low light of setting sun, he still made out the figure of someone sitting on the end of his bed. He jumped and tugged the blankets higher around him.

"Hey, hey, don't be scared! It's just me!"

David sighed as he recognized Matt's voice. "What are you _doing_ in here? I'm trying to sleep!"

"I just thought you might like some company is all," The Doctor said matter-of-factly. "I used to have a friend with depression and they had trouble sleeping so I thought you'd be the same and you might want me to stay with you while you fall asleep."

"I _was_ asleep!"

"Oh, really?" The Doctor put his finger to his lips as his face took on a puzzled expression in the darkness. "I wasn't sure; you weren't moving so I figured you might still be awake."

"How does that even make sense?" David sighed. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, expecting to hear the other get up and leave to go back to his own room – but instead, all he heard was… nothing. He opened his eyes again and found the shape of the other still there. "Aren't you going?"

"Going where?"

"To bed."

"Why would I go to bed?"

David groaned. "To sleep."

"But I'm not tired."

"I am."

"I know. That's why I'm here. It's not even eight yet and already you're trying to sleep."

"Because I'm tired."

"I know."

This conversation was getting nowhere, and David didn't know what to handle it. The people in his life usually knew when to stay with him and leave him alone, but Matt… had no idea. "I think you should go back to your room now…"

"Why?"

He wasn't getting it. He _really_ wasn't getting it, and David knew the only way the other was going to understand was if he got rude. But he wasn't a rude person. He didn't want to be rude to someone who only wanted to help.

But he also wanted to sleep…

He'd opened his mouth, wincing as he knew feelings might get hurt here, but to his immediate relief, the bedroom door opened; with a bit of luck, whoever it was would tell Matt to go away and leave him alone.

"What are you doing in there, Matt?"

David let out a sigh of relief at Rory's voice; if the nurse was here, he'd most likely send Matt away. "…"

"Leave David alone; he wants to sleep. You can see him again tomorrow, alright?" Rory was so gentle, David felt bad for even considering having to get rude with the other; Matt was a kind, caring person; he just didn't seem to understand socializing very well. "Go on. Go find Chris if you want to be with someone; he was helping Martha reorganize her office."

David tried not to listen to how joyful Matt was as he obeyed; the other was so happy-go-lucky, and it made him remember just how depressed he was in his own life. He'd give anything to be as cheerful as the younger was, but unfortunately, life had chosen him to fuck over again and again until he'd almost forgotten how to even smile.

"Sorry about him."

He was snapped out of his thoughts before he could get very far in them. Rory was approaching, with a tiny plastic cup with pills inside for him to take. He sat up, not having the mental energy to argue over taking the medicine. "He's fine…"

Rory passed over the cup and a glass of water. He stood by the bed as he murmured, "He's pretty high on the autism spectrum; he doesn't realise when he's being a pest. You've got to be pretty direct with him for him to understand."

David nodded. "It's alright… I just didn't want to hurt his feelings telling him to leave."

"Oh, you won't hurt them; he'll understand; he knows he's being annoying if someone tells him to go away."

David swallowed the pills and then handed the glass and cup back to the nurse. "He won't come back in again, will he? I was already asleep when he got here…"

"No, I'll talk to him and make sure he understands," Rory promised. "Goodnight."

"Night…"

And with that, David fell back into a deep sleep, one disturbed constantly by nightmares.


End file.
